1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to cases for compact discs and, more particularly, to an antitheft case for packed compact discs having a simple construction, capable of being reliably locked, thus effectively preventing a packed compact disc from being stolen by any unauthorized persons.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, compact discs are effective recording media for data, such as audio, video and MPEG data. In an effort to protect data of the compact discs, such discs are packed in specified packs by users, disc manufacturers or disc sellers. The packed compact discs are, thereafter, received in a special disc case.
In a show window, packed compact discs are laid out for sale while being cased in such cases. The disc cases maximize the exhibition effect of the compact discs. Such known disc cases are typically designed for having an antitheft structure.
FIGS. 1 to 4 show the construction of a typical antitheft case for packed compact discs. As shown in the drawings, the compact disc case 100 has a thin box shape and comprises a bottom plate 110 with four side walls 111, 112, 113 and 114. The four side walls 111,112,113 and 114, formed on the four edges of the bottom plate 110, meet with the bottom plate 110 and each other at right angles, so that the side walls of the case 100 has a box shape. Four top corners of the case 100 are individually provided with a stopper 115, 116, 117 and 118 for retaining the packed disc within the case 100.
The bottom plate 110 has an opening 119 for allowing a user to push up a packed disc 120(shown in FIG. 4 with dashed line) outside the bottom plate 110 by a finger when it is necessary to take the packed disc 120 out of the case 100. A lock assembly 121 is provided on one side wall 114 of the case 100 for preventing the packed disc 120 from being out of the case 100.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the above lock assembly 121 comprises a housing "H" exteriorly provided on the side wall 114 of the case 110. A U-shaped elastic piece 122 is received in the housing "H" with both ends of the piece 122 being elastically and magnetically movable as will be described later herein. A latch "L" is ejectably set in the housing "H" in a way such that the latch "L" is elastically retracted into or ejected from the housing "H" while being locked or unlocked by both ends of the elastic piece 122.
That is, the elastic piece 122 is made of a magnetic material, so that both ends of the piece 122 in the housing "H" are selectively and magnetically biased outwardly by the magnetic force of an unlocking device 123 as shown in FIG. 4. Therefore, the latch "L" can be locked or unlocked by both ends of the elastic piece 122 as desired. The above latch "L" thus selectively fixes the position of the packed disc 120 in the disc case 100 or allows the packed disc 120 to be out of the case 100.
However, such typical antitheft compact disc cases are problematic in that the lock assembly protrudes from a side wall of the case, thus complicating the construction and spoiling the appearance of the cases. Due to such a lock assembly, it is somewhat difficult to lay out the disc cases for sale, thus being disadvantageous to disc sellers. Such a lock assembly, complicating the construction of the disc cases, results in a complication of the manufacturing process for the cases and increases the manufacturing cost of the cases. Therefore, disc cases with such a lock assembly are inconvenient to manufacturers. In addition, the above disc cases are somewhat inconvenient to users due to such lock assemblies.
The above lock assembly is not designed for completely locking the case, thus allowing any unauthorized persons to distort a disc case at a twisting angle to open the case prior to easily stealing the data of the disc. The lock assembly may be also unlocked by a pin in place of a specified key, so that the assembly cannot effectively prevent packed compact discs from being stolen by unauthorized persons.